Mississippi Center for Justice

Indianola , USA

Photo © Mark Howell

Architects: Duvall Decker

Year: 2012

The 6,000 square foot renovation for the Indianola office of Mississippi Center for Justice serves the residents of the Mississippi Delta with legal counsel. These residents often face obstacles to legal services and representation and are often exploited. The economical project is ambitious in design with a goal to materialize the hopes of and respect for those in need of services by providing storefront access to attorneys and support with privacy and dignity.

The three-part design started with the shell, the abandoned furniture store cleaned out and repaired. The order of rooms in which legal service office operations take place, are built with inexpensive gypsum board partitions. The rooms are located to allow natural light to course into the inner plan. At the heart of the plan, a dynamically-shaped, clay-tile sheathed wall arcs and leans through the space, providing a landmark that not only unites all the rooms, but more importantly, establishes a tactile enveloping, dynamic anchor; a kind of inner horizon that is both secure and hopeful about the future.